


Stay With Me

by verylarry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Eating Disorders, Falling In Love, Home by One Direction, I changed the title of this, Larry Stylinson Is Real, Louis Has An Eating Disorder, Louis figuring out he's gay, M/M, Making Out, Nudity, Sex, Smut, Uni AU, University AU, University Student Harry, University Student Louis, University Students Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, WIP, Work In Progress, and secret, but ill let you know in the notes before, but it's like a forbidden kind of love, don't really know what's going to happen, harry and louis fall in love, kinda just going with the flow, larry - Freeform, larry au, larry stylinson - Freeform, lol, one direction - Freeform, prob will end up changing it again if i think of something better, trigger warning, was originally "ill make this feel like home"
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 05:01:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6105745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verylarry/pseuds/verylarry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis, who always saw himself as straight, falls in love with the beautiful boy he sees in the dining hall every night.<br/>-----<br/>Or the one where Louis and Harry fall in love, but Louis develops an eating disorder and Harry wishes he could do all that he could to save him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was just another ordinary day. A Monday, beginning with a ridicously early 8 am history class that Louis still had trouble waking up for. He hated that he had to wake up so early and that there wasn’t another history class that would have worked with his schedule. But with adding a minor in physics this semester and having labs at crazy hours, he’d had no other choice but to settle for the 8 am.

  
But once he got up and going, he didn’t mind it. History wasn’t that bad of a class. And he had a nice break in between that and his calculus class and then time before his night physics lab. The only thing was, he had to get dinner after lab, which was late.

  
Lab almost always went until 8:30 and it was no different today. By the time Louis finished recording the distance of the toy car going down the ramp a million times in lab, he was starving. Luckily, the dining hall was a short walk from the lab and Louis was a pretty brisk walker.

  
8:30 dinner at the dining hall left him with pretty limited choices, so Louis normally settled for pizza and whatever vegetable he could find. He had to try to be a little bit healthy he figured. There was no way he’d ever admit it, but despite always eating pizza, he was terrified of getting the dreaded Freshman Fifteen. The small serving of broccoli had to help balance the pizza, right? As he sat down to eat alone, he made a mental note to start going to the gym.

  
Sometimes if he was lucky, his friends would join him for dinner, but times like today they got hungry at 6 and couldn’t hold out for him to get out of lab. It was nice to eat alone but it was also…lonely. And awkward as hell. He wasn’t one to really listen to music or look at his phone so he found himself just sitting there eating alone, starring off at nothing.  
Or was he really starring of at nothing? Suddenly, his spaced out gaze was broken by the most beautiful boy he had even seen in his life. Louis didn’t think he’d ever seen any person as beautiful and wonderful as this mystery boy. He looked like he might have just worked out and was so in shape and everything Louis wanted to be.

  
Louis considered going over and talking to him, maybe inviting him to eat with him if, well…Mystery guy put his plate down with a group of girls. Oh. He wasn’t alone. And he had friends. Probably one was a girlfriend. What am I thinking? Louis thought. I’m not gay. I took a girl to prom last year, that was fun I guess. And we kissed after and that was fun and all but…maybe that’s why something wasn’t right? Louis didn’t want to believe it, but he couldn’t help looking over at mystery guy again. And he could have sworn Mystery Guy was staring back at him. Louis couldn’t take it. He picked up his plate and left.

  
Louis threw himself on his bed. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. He was never going to see that guy again! If he wouldn’t have let his doubts get in the way and just talked to him, then maybe he could have…could have maybe had a…(he didn’t want to admit it to himself)….but maybe then he could have had his first boyfriend. He didn’t want to fantasize too much. What was thinking? First off, the chance that he’d ever see this boy again, alone nonetheless, was extremely rare. Second, the chance that this guy could even be gay AND attracted to him—even rarer. God! Louis punched his pillow. What a silly thing to be concerning himself about! He couldn’t ask anyone what he should do because he didn’t know anyone who was gay and he couldn’t ask anyone because no one knew he was gay (he didn’t even know for sure himself!).

  
It’s nothing, he assured himself. He still liked girls. He didn’t have a crush on Mystery Guy. He was only starring at him because he was in shape, he was “goals” that was all. Nothing to worry about.


	2. Chapter 2

It was DEFINITELY something to worry about. Ever since that night, every time Louis went to his late dinner, Mystery Guy was there. And every time with someone. And every time staring at him, Louis was 100% sure he was staring at him, it couldn’t just keep being a coincidence. And every time, Louis wanted to say something but never knew the right thing to say without sounding weird or creepy or awkward and always left to avoid Mystery Guy talking to him first and Louis not knowing what to say.

  
Everything changed one Friday night after physics lab. Louis went to the dining hall to get his usual pizza where he knew he would see Mystery Guy. I’m going to talk to him today, he said to himself as he always did every night and never followed through with doing. He put his plate down, alone again because Niall had a paper to write and Zayn kept getting hungry extremely early and Liam never replied to his text. Did they all hate him? No, they couldn’t, 8:30 was just extremely late to eat dinner, he had to understand that.

  
He went to get a drink, picking water this time over Coke because that had to be a bit of a healthier choice. He returned to his seat and tried to eat as fast as he could so he wouldn’t have to awkwardly sit there alone for too long. Plus, he had physics homework he probably should get started on tonight.

  
Suddenly, he noticed Mystery Guy walking in. Damn, he looked really good. His curls looked so perfect today and his green eyes seemed to sparkle and he was wearing this sort of floral type shirt that only he seemed to be able to pull off. Louis really hated that he was so attracted to this guy, but he couldn’t help but to notice him. Louis considered maybe talking to him and asking him to join him for dinner so he wouldn’t have to eat alone, but compared to him, Louis looked like shit. He hadn’t really tried too hard today, only just threw on a Adidas t-shirt. Nothing fancy.

  
Hopefully Mystery Guy wouldn’t notice him today, but he always seemed to. This time, he was literally staring. And, oh shit, Mystery Guy was walking towards him. Louis considering getting up and leaving, he couldn’t do it. But he was too late because Mystery Guy was standing right in front of his table.

  
“Hey,” the guy said. “I feel like I see you here all. Mind if I, uh---”

  
“Yeah no one’s sitting here that chair’s open you can totally sit here,” Louis said. Shit, that probably sounded way to eager. Shit.

  
The guy set his plate down across from him. Louis had no idea what he was eating, but it literally looked like the most disgusting thing ever. It had tomatoes in it though, so maybe it was healthy. Maybe that’s what I should be eating, Louis thought, and made a really disgusted face. Being healthier was really going to be hard.  
The guy seemed to notice Louis’s disgust and looked kind of uncomfortable. Louis didn’t want him to know he was mentally criticizing his food, but he also didn’t want to make him think he was angry that he sat with him.

  
“I’m Louis,” he said, and smiled. Solid save.

  
“Harry,” said the guy.

  
So now Mystery Guy had a name. Harry. Louis liked it.

  
“So, uh…” Louis was no good at flirting with anyone, much less a guy. “You live nearby here?” What a stupid question! Of course he did! Why else would he be at the dining hall. Ugh!

  
“I live in the campus apartments.”

  
“Oh, so you’re like a sophomore then?” All the freshmen lived in dorms, so Harry had to be older than Louis.

  
“No, freshman, I’m an RA there.”

  
“Gotcha,” Louis said, even though that literally made no sense to him how a freshman could possibly be an RA already. “I’m living there next year.” Maybe Harry would be his RA. He hoped so. He wouldn’t mind breaking the rules a little if that met Harry having to come to his apartment.

  
Even though there was no one he knew here, he was afraid Niall or someone would show up and wonder who he was eating with. Not that they would assume anything, they’d just think Harry was a friend, which right now, he was. “I’ve, uh, got to head out,” Louis said. He hated that he was doing this, it probably seemed so rude but he was so uncomfortable and terrified that someone would know that he wanted to be more than just friends with Harry.

  
“Alright, well I guess I’ll see you around then. Nice meeting you,” said Harry. God, he seemed so disappointed that Louis was already leaving. Honestly, Louis didn’t want to go but…

  
“Physics homework.” Louis smiled and picked up his plate and started to walk away. But wait, he was screwing up. This was his chance. This was the guy he had been wanting to talk to for ages and now the guy had come and talked to him first. He turned around, hoping Harry hadn’t already left yet. Luckily, he was still there.

  
“Can I just, uh, get your number before I head out?” Louis said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. “You know, maybe we could like go to the gym or something sometime?” (That sounded very manly right? Two guys going to the gym to lift together? Not like a date? Louis didn’t want it to sound like a date, but at the same time that’s exactly what he wanted it to be).

  
“Yeah, sure that would be fun.”

  
Louis handed Harry his phone, hoping he wouldn’t notice that his hands were shaking. This was definitely something new. “Alright, thanks. I’ll, uh, I’ll text you sometime.” And then he quickly turned away before Harry could say anything else to hide his face, which he was sure was the color of Harry’s tomatoes.

  
So he might have just asked a guy out for the first time????

  
Louis walked back to his dorm, only a short walk away from the dining hall, absolutely buzzing. As he walked in, he really hoped Niall, his roommate, wasn’t there. He just wasn’t in the mood to talk to him and just wanted some time alone to think about Harry. Luckily, the door was locked and Niall wasn’t there. Probably decided to go to the library or something and wouldn’t be back until Louis was already in bed.

  
He wondered when would be too soon to text Harry. He didn’t want to immediately, partly because he was extremely nervous. But he didn’t want to wait too long and make Harry nervous. This was weird. He didn’t even know what he would say.

  
And then he remembered Hannah.

  
Hannah who from his hometown. Hannah who went to a university miles away. Hannah who was his prom date. Hannah who he made out with after prom. Hannah who was his current girlfriend.

  
Louis didn’t know what to do. The fact that he forgot he was even dating Hannah, well…that was not good. And if he wanted to date Harry (if that was even an option) he only had one choice.

  
He dialed Hannah’s number. He’d been the shittiest boyfriend and she had been so in love with him. She would the perfect girlfriend, for someone who actually wanted to date a girl. He didn’t even know why he had even started dating her in the first place. He couldn’t remember. Maybe to prove a point to himself that he liked girls. But something had been off and now here he was choosing Harry over Hannah.

  
“Hi Louis!” Hannah answered. God, she loved him so much. “It’s been forever since you actually called me first and I’ve missed you a ton! I have so much to tell you and—”

  
Louis couldn’t take it. “Hannah. I’m sorry to do this in the worst possible way, but I need to break up with you.”

  
Silence on the other end.

  
“It’s not you, it’s me.” Classic line. He’d heard it in a movie and figured that was the most appropriate thing to say.

  
Silence.

  
“But let’s stay friends?”

  
Nothing. Then the phone went to dial tone.

  
Well, that went well. But Louis was glad it was done. He decided to text Harry right now while Niall was gone. Texting people for the first time was hard because he never knew if he should keep it formal or casual. He decided to do a mix of both for Harry: Hello Harry, this is Louis. Are you up for the gym tomorrow night?

  
He was planning on saying this weekend (which probably would have been the better option) but he didn’t want to go another day without seeing Harry again. He anxiously starred at his phone, hoping Harry would text him back instantly.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry didn’t reply instantly, but it took him no more than ten minutes text Louis back and make plans for tomorrow. And now, here it was the next day and Louis was on his way to meet Harry outside the gym. He had never been inside the school gym this entire year, which was slightly embarrassing. But he’d been to a gym before, so it’s not like the inside would be a complete shock. He just had to play it cool so Harry would think he comes here all the time.

  
That didn’t last too long. Harry was already standing outside looking very eager to see Louis approaching. “Hey,” Louis said. He had to remember to keep it kind of casual. This was just two bros working out, nothing crazy.

  
“Hello Louis,” Harry said as the started to walk inside. “What’s your favorite thing to do here?”

  
Shit. Louis panicked and took a little extra time to think as signed in with his student ID. (Good thing he was following Harry because he had no idea you had to do that.) “Um…” Louis looked around and noticed all the weights. “I like lifting.”

  
Harry kind of laughed a little, but smiled. “Okay, I guess we’ll be lifting today.”

  
As they walked down the stairs towards the weights, Louis realized what a horrible idea it was to suggest lifting. Yes, he wanted to get in shape, but he didn’t do lifting enough to be able to lift more than maybe like thirty pounds if he was lucky. This was going to be extremely embarrassing.

  
“Okay,” Harry was saying. “Let’s do these two machines next to each other.”

  
Louis at least knew what this machine was, the pec press. He’d just never done it. But it looked easy enough that he could fake it.

  
The weight was set to seventy-five. Louis looked over at Harry’s and his was the same and he didn’t change it. Louis didn’t want to look bad in front of Harry, who looked like he was having absolutely no trouble at all; it almost looked too easy. Seventy-five couldn’t be that hard to do.

  
But Louis couldn’t do it. Harry had already done at least a few reps and Louis couldn’t even do one. He was struggling. This had been a horrible idea. And Harry noticed.

  
“You’re doing it all wrong!” he said.

  
Louis felt his face flush red. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  
“Obviously. Let me help you out.” Harry adjusted the weight down to twenty-five. “Let’s start here. Try that.”

  
“That’s embarrassing,” Louis muttered.

  
“What, no?” Harry said.

  
“Well, yeah…” Louis said. “I can’t do this. You’re so good at it and I don’t know shit about working out.”

  
“Here,” Harry gently placed his hands on Louis’s arms and helped him to move them properly. “See you have to do it like that. That’s good form right there.”

  
Louis hoped Harry would never take his hands off him. “Let’s go slow,” he said. “Ten reps, together?” And slowly, Harry, standing just inches away from Louis, helped him to complete his first ever college gym workout.

  
With Harry this close to him, Louis suddenly had an overwhelming urge just to stop him right then and there and pull him closer and kiss him. He had never felt that way with Hannah, in fact dreaded it when he was supposed to kiss her. But here he was wanting desperately to make out with a guy he’d know for less that twenty-four hours. If they had the gym to themselves, Louis would be tempted to actually do it. But the gym had its crowd. So Louis decided he would do the next most logical thing: text Niall to see when he’d be coming back to the room.


	4. Chapter 4

 

“My roommate’s going to be gone for at least another hour,” Louis said. “We could go back to my dorm and just maybe chill or something.”

Harry gave Louis a smirk. “Or we could go back to my apartment. I’m an RA so I don’t have any roommates to worry about.”

Louis shrugged, trying to make it seem like it wasn’t that big of a deal. But this would be better, since he wouldn’t have to worry about Niall coming back early or his suitemates Zayn and Liam deciding to come over. “Sure. And I guess it’ll be good to see what it looks like since I’ll be living there next year.”

Harry smirked again, obviously having some crazy idea up his sleeve. But Louis didn’t know if Harry was gay. Shit, he didn’t even know if he himself was gay. But looking at Harry, all sweaty from their workout really turned Louis on and he’d never felt this aroused around Hannah.

Harry’s apartment was very minimalist. His living room had a simple black sofa, bookcase, and coffee table, nothing else much. “I was on a bit of a budget with the furniture,” Harry said. “Didn’t know I was going to be an RA and moving to the apartments until the last day of first semester.”

“No, it’s nice,” Louis said. “It’s simple.”

Harry shrugged. “I made do with what I could get.”

Harry threw himself on the sofa. Seeing as there were no other seating options, Louis joined him, but left a reasonable distance between them. He didn’t want to ruin his new friendship with Harry by already having a crush on him.

“So,” Harry said. God, he looked amazing carelessly sitting on his sofa, his elbow on the armrest and his head carefully in his hand. And even though he was so sweaty, his curls still looked perfect. Louis could sorta see his toned bicep peaking out from his shirt. He imagined how toned Harry’s abs probably were and wished he could just rip his shirt of right now. Harry was everything Louis wished he could be.

“Louis?” Harry said.

Shit, what did he just say? “Sorry, I…”

Harry’s classic smirk was back. “What were thinking about?”

“What did you ask me?”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Answer my question first and then I’ll tell you.”

Louis sighed. “You, Harry, I was thinking about you.”

“And what about me?”

Louis was getting frustrated. “God, Harry, I answered your question! Stop being an egocentric ass and save me from embarrassment.”

Harry chuckled. “Ouch. I was asking you about your love life, but I think I have my answer.”

Louis felt his cheeks burn. “Well, I had a girlfriend.”

“Great. So did I back in the days.”

“I broke up with her last night.”

“I’m single also.”

“I’m not looking to date anyone right now,” Louis said, a complete damn lie.

“Hm,” Harry said. He put his hand on Louis’s leg. “We’ll see about that.” He pulled Louis towards him where now they were sitting completely side by side. Slowly, he moved his hands up Louis’s body until the rested on his cheeks. And even slower, he placed his lips on Louis’s and gave him the most gentlest kiss.

“Harry, what the fuck?” Louis shouted. “What the actual fuck?” He broke away from Harry and ran down the hall until he found Harry’s bathroom and shut himself inside.

Louis sat on the cold tile floor and broke into a sob. He loved every second of that kiss, even though it hardly lasted. But he didn’t know if he was gay. He didn’t know if he wanted to get right back into a relationship. He didn’t know who he was anymore.

There was a knock at the door. “Louis?” Harry whispered and slowly the door cracked open. “Babe, you didn’t even turn the lights on.” Harry flicked on the switch. Carefully, Harry joined Louis on the floor, this time keeping his distance.

“What’s wrong?” he whispered in the most sexiest way. “Look, I know that was a bit too much. I just thought…well I guess I shouldn’t have quite assumed…but I thought you might have felt the same way.”

Louis lifted his head to face Harry. “I do feel the same. I want to love you Harry, I do. But…”

“But what love?” Harry said, this time moving closer to Louis.

“I don’t know, this is all new to me. I…I just never accepted that I was gay.”

Harry pulled Louis into him, gently drying his tears with his t-shirt. And it was then that Louis got to see a hint of Harry’s most perfect abs. “It’s okay,” Harry whispered. “We’ll be enough. Now let’s get you all showered and clean.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of smut here and the beginnings of Louis's eating disorder, just a heads up. Nothing super triggering, just the build up of it.

Harry carelessly tossed his sweat-stained shirt off and on the ground. Louis sharply inhaled as he finally got to appreciate Harry’s abs. Of course he had a six pack and was perfectly toned and in shape. And then Harry slowly took off his gym shorts. Seeing him standing there in just his boxer briefs, Louis couldn’t help but to admire just how beautiful Harry was. How perfect his body was. How Louis’s body was far from Harry’s.

“The hot water doesn’t last too long, so I figured maybe we could share the shower? If that’s okay with you,” Harry said, giving Louis that smirk again.

Louis knew he should maybe be a little concerned that this was escalating so quickly. But he wanted to have contact with Harry again, wanted to put his body against Harry’s perfect one. “Yeah, that’s fine,” Louis answered, getting up from the floor. Slowly, he removed his shirt and shorts, suddenly becoming conscious of his own body compared to Harry. He didn’t work out everyday the way Harry did. He didn’t eat healthy everyday like Harry did.

Harry turned the shower water on, dropped his briefs with the rest of his clothes and stepped in the shower. “Come here, you,” Harry said, opening the shower door all the ways. He reached his hands out and quickly tugged Louis’s boxer briefs down.

Louis stumbled to fully remove the briefs before taking Harry’s hand. Harry closed the shower door behind him. “God, it’s like you don’t know what you’re doing,” Harry said.

Louis laughed. “This is definitely a first for me.”

Steam was already starting to come off the water. This was so weird, so different, he was literally naked in a shower with another boy, but the most beautiful boy. This moment right here was better than any minute he had spent with Hannah.

Harry’s curls had straightened in the water and his hair hung longer, about down to his shoulders. Louis tentatively reached his hand out and ran his fingers through Harry’s hair. “Fuck, you’re so beautiful,” he whispers.

“You enjoying this, Louis?” Harry murmured.

“God yes,” Louis said. He really was. He just couldn’t bring himself to look any lower than Harry’s face.

Harry was running his hands all over Louis, but Louis couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. How could Harry possibly love him when he fat and completely out of shape? How could Harry possibly be enjoying this. _I’ll lose weight for you, Harry_ , Louis thought. _I’ll get my body like yours and then you’ll really love me._ Louis vowed then to start regularly going to the gym. That would be the only way he could ever get a body like Harry’s.

“How far to you want to take this tonight?” Harry said, his hands going lower and lower, settling on Louis’s hips.

Louis wanted so badly to have sex with Harry, right now in this moment. But, as he finally allowed his eyes to move lower than Harry’s face and finally take in his perfect figure, he knew he wasn’t ready. He didn’t want Harry to see him naked again until he actually good. Next time, Harry wouldn’t have to ask him how far he wanted to go. Next time, Louis would look so good that Harry wouldn’t be able to contain himself.

“I think I’ve had enough for tonight, actually,” Louis said, growing self conscious of himself. Quickly, he opened the shower door and grabbed the closest towel he could find, wrapping it around his body.

Harry was quick to follow. “Too much in one night?”

Louis just shrugged. “It’s all new to me.”

After they got dressed, Louis joined Harry back on the sofa. “Listen, Lou,” Harry said. “I don’t want this just to be a one night sorta thing were we fuck and then go our separate ways. I want to love you. Every night I saw you in the dining hall, that just made my night. I want to know you, Louis.”

Louis nodded. He wanted to love Harry, wanted Harry to love him, but wanted to be perfect for Harry. “Let’s make these gym workouts a regular thing. I need you to help me get into shape.”

“Oh, someone jealous of my abs?” Harry laughed, meaning it to be a flirting joke, but little did he know that was the absolute truth.

Louis forced himself to laugh a little. “Looks like you got me there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry these chapters are kinda short. I'm either going to work on doing longer chapters or more frequent short chapters. Any feedback/kudos would be appreciated! :)


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